Justified
by Michael Konnor
Summary: Sam and Dean meet up with a fellow hunter who isnt all he appears
1. Chapter 1

'Rain. Some say it was God sent and only Noah was spared, some say its just atmospheric precipitation. Either way i hate it. I got into my small one bedroom apartment, and shrugged off my overly large raincoat. Struggling darkly into the bathroom i manged to snag a towel from the rack behind the door. Rubbing my hair with the towel, I wandered casually into my main room and slumped into the chair and threw the towel onto the lazee boy chair sitting in front of my TV.

"Mr Monroe? Zachery Monroe?"

I looked up to spot a petite figure standing next to my window. Outside the window was a fire escape that led to street level and to the alleyway that led between my building and the bakers. Baking bread was usually the first thing i smelt in the morning. Better than any alarm clock.

"Sorry ma'am but my name is Peter Faraday, i am afraid you have broke in here for nothing. I don't know any Munro"

She took a deep breath and a hesitant step forward as if she were afraid to bring herself into the light. She was small, maybe 5' - 5'2, slim build but with big eyes that would put any anime artwork to shame. Her hair was free flowing and sat round her shoulders, framing her face with a halo of blond light. She was beautiful in a fragile kinda way, but she was also memorable and i did remember her...from a different life.

She gestured towards my bedroom, there was no bed in the room, just a desk, some chairs, a laptop and a wall full of names written in marker behind the laptop. I don't sleep, i think sometimes even if i could, i wouldn't

"My brothers name is on your wall."

I had a lot of excuses, previous tenant, graffiti, gang marks, but it didn't seem right to lie to her.

I sighed in resignation

"Yes, it is as well as 734 more."

She looked at me as a scientist examining a curiosity through their microscope.

"What we do stays with us, good or bad. I think sometimes we all need reminding of that"

Her lower lip started trembling. Victims come in all shapes and sizes. There are the ones that populate the graves and the ones who live at the gravesides. War made a lot of soldiers, but terrorists killed a lot of victims. Personally i never saw the difference,dead is dead. It comforts people to know how someone died, if it was nobly for their country or stopping a gang-banger holding up Ma and Pa's grocery store. People take comfort in that kind of action.

At my peak i was a bastard and i don't mean 'oh naughty naughty', i mean war crimes, Hitler was an angel compared to me kinda bastard. I killed people in self defense, but knowing you are better,tougher, stronger than anyone else doesn't make it a fair fight, knowing you are going to win, doesn't make you brave. I could say that if i was loved, by my parents, by the girl next door by the crush i had then it might not have happened. But right here, right now. I am a bastard and this girl deserves to have her pound of flesh.

"Yes, i killed him"

"You killed all those people? On your wall?"

I found it hard to talk. As if somehow if i said 'yes i did' then that would make it more real. People justify actions, but not a lot of them can live with them. I did that cos of that, it wasn't me, it was circumstances, if that didn't happen then i never would have done it. Justifiable homicide, a legal term coined to explain why anyone would want to take anyone's life. Downward spiral is a better term.

"I killed them...all. And i see their faces every night. Tall, thin, fat, small, Asian, Caucasian, African American, Jewish. I did it"

She broke down and collapsed into my lazee boy.

"I want you to help me kill someone"

_150 Miles away:_ The tall FBI agent sized up the female policewoman. She looked from the badge to his face and back again

"Agent Oates? Why is the FBI here? We caught the sum bitch.", her Texan drawl was almost tourist cute. Jess had had one helluva fake Texan accent, it was one of the things that attracted him to her, her love of all things non serious. Smurfs, Halloween, how she nearly always put him first, it made him smile despite himself

He didn't realize he did it, but he did it whenever he thought of Jessica. His face seemed to take on a whole new light. He felt happy that she had made him happy but at the same time, he felt sad as if a piece of his hart had been ripped out. A demon who had haunted him his whole life did it to get his head back in the game. He thought that he had escaped it, but there are two things Sam Winchester learned you cant escape. Family and Fate. And he had tried to escape both at various parts of his life. The demon was dead now, dead and gone but as Sam realized, it was a case of one down and many more to go.

He cleared his throat, "Yeh we know, its just really a followup to make sure we dotted all the 'i's and crossed the 't's, we don't want him getting off on a technicality. He 's going for the insanity plea"

"No sane man coulda done what was done to that Farmer girl, but he stalked her for weeks before. If that ain't sane then i don't know what is and then there was all the other girls, musta been about 10. Cunning, agent, i tell ya, cunning as a rattler, but i wouldna called him insane"

"Yeh true but still, we have to check out everything...again"

Sam put on his tired-of-doing-all-this-crap face and hoped she bought it

"Where the hell was Dean?", Sam thought to himself

Dean kicked up some dirt as he stormed back and forth on his cell.

"Bobby! We cant leave yet, we got a demon here with a touch for the country girls"

Dean heard a sigh on the phone, "Dont'cha think i know that and if it was anywhere else i woulda called someone else but you two idjits are the closest i got. I called Hendricks and Randolph and they should be there by the morning. There good kids. But i got a call from a guy called Zachary Monroe and he wants to talk to you about some guy called Bobby Frampton, that ring any bells?"

Dean sighed and looked at his feet.

"Yeh, five towns back, demon got him to start a rite, we had to gank him. What about it? And whose Monroe?"

Bobby Singer took a deep breath as he sat watching his eggs boiling on his old gas cooker

"I dunno if you will have heard of it but it was a legend in your daddy's day about a hunter who was the best of the best. Every so often something would pop up. Vampire leaving town or demons scarpering, and all other hunters would say was that 'Monroe musta been there'. Don't know what he looks like or what he's like, but judging from what folk say he has been hunting long before your granddaddy's time and then some."

"Bobby, that ain't possible, not without heavy mojo!"

"I know that, but that is what folks say. He is kinda hero to some, and a bitch to others. But do not get on his wrong side or..."

Dean looked at his phone

"Or...what?"

Bobby sighed.

"Kid, you don't wanna know. Just git and meet Monroe in the 'Strong Arms in Buffalo Creek, Michigan"

Dean sighed, "Yeh OK i got it, we will move out first thing tomorrow."

_To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

Zac sat on the chair opposite the front door of room 107 in the 1st floor of the 'Strong' Arms. Walls were threadbare with a crisscrossed beige wallpaper covering the walls. A small black and white TV with a dialler for a tuner was located in a small table opposite the bed and on his left hand side. On the double bed next to his chair was a single silver bowie knife ingrained with occult symbols up and down the hilt. Once the blade took over a different set of symbols was shown these were hidden almost invisible but when the knife turned in the light a small glean of an almost runic language was shown.

The doorknob clicked as the door was opened. Zac smiled to himself

"They picked the lock. Subtle"

The door opened and a tall slim youth entered. Although to be fair this 'youth' looked mid-late 20s, but then again, everyone Zac met he saw as a youth. Shaggy black hair and brown eyes with a sallow face was the first thing Zac saw. He was tall, maybe 6-6'5, with a light blue sweater and a brown suede jacket. Blue jeans and sneakers competed the ensemble. He was just tucking his lockpick set back into his wallet when his eyes met Zac's. It was 3am and to see your target awake an sitting in front of you was alarming to say the least

"Morning. Where's your brother"

The youth smiled

"Turn round"

Zac turned round and saw an average sized man with a gun aimed at his head standing on the fire escape. The man had dark brownish hair with blue eyes and looking deep into those eyes Zac saw that he would kill him if it came to it. He wore an old Utah sweater covered with a denim jacket and some black jeans

"Easy boys, i am just here to talk"

The tall youth came over an started to pat him down while Zac stayed in his chair and then he stopped when he saw the knife. He stopped what he was doing and picked it up

"Where did you get this?"

"It's mine."

Zac heard the window open as the other brother came in through the window. He slipped into the room to keep a closer eye on Zac and, Zac thought, to guard his brother.

Zac assessed them

"He is overly protective of the other one", Zac filed it away with other information

"My name is Zac Monroe, And you are...?"

The man with the gun gestured with his head, "He's Sam, I'm Dean. What do you want with us?"

"You killed a young boy. His sister wants revenge"

Dean lowered the gun. "That boy was going to kill his whole town including his sister. He was a demon, it had to be done."

Zac nodded "I know that, but this puts me in a quandary. She is really broken up about this and really wants FBI Agents Hall and Oates dead. So what do i do?"

Sam was still studying the knife when he spoke

"Tell her you cant find us. Fake names, fake ID, no trace. Its sad but what we did was for greater good. Tell us about this knife."

"OK, we will put Jill aside right now but we will clear this little mess up sooner rather than later. That knife is a rare kind of knife. Occult symbols up and down the handle let you handle it, if there were no symbols there, you'd die. The ones on the blade guard and banish supernatural evil. Only downside is the more you use the more it corrupts its user. When you kill with it, you get high. Afterwards you go through withdrawal. That is the downside, upside is it will pretty much kill anything that is called 'evil', i don't mean 'you make a choice and you live with the consequences' kind of evil, i mean bone deep, supernatural, Lucifer kind of evil. Demons, Angels, Hellhounds, anything, stone cold...dead"

Sam whistled.

Dean walked up and put the gun to his temple

"Why haven't we heard about this before?"

"This was made by Samuel Colt before he made the gun, after he made it, he deemed it too dangerous and made a 'watered down' version. Eventually that one found its way into the hands of a demon called Ruby. I managed to get this one. Not a lot of hunters know about, come to think about it, not a lot of people know about it full stop. I have used it twice in my lifetime and i curse the day when i have to use it again. Its the kind of mountain that first you climb and then you carry."

Sam looked at Dean and gestured to lower the gun

"Why do you want us?"

"There is a breed of demon out the i need help killing. Its from Japan and its called an 'Amanojaku"

Dean and Sam both shook their heads.

"Never heard of them"

Zac stood up and closed the window. "A normal demon is the corrupted souls of a human. Amanojaku are corrupted animal spirits. There are stories all over the world about them. In Japanese lore, they had charming woman who would lure young men to an early grave and they could be identified by the fox tales underneath their kimonos. Sirens in Greek Myth were Amanojaku. Normal demons have human needs and desires, death, destruction, fun,no inhibitions. Amanojaku have less complicated tastes. They have animal cunning and less emotional restraint than demons. Demons can reason whats good and bad,on a personal level if not whats smart. Amanojaku don't think that deep about things. Point A, Point B, straight line. BUT when they want to hide they can do that supremely well. They have no pride, no ego to get in the way, in some ways they are more dangerous than demons."

Dean looked at the knife

"How do you kill them"

Zac gingerly took the knife from Sam and put it back in its scabbard at the base of his back.

"Any blessed weapon will do the job but AFTER they die you have to split its body into five pieces and bury then separately in holy ground. Only an untainted human can kill them dead though. Anyone else the spirit just grabs someone else."

"What do you mean by untainted?", Sam said

"Pure human. Cant have ever been involved in evil magicks, possession, blood magic. Pure human"

Sam and Dean looked at each other, then looked at Zac

"We're out"

Zac looked confused

"What do you mean we're out?"

Dean shrugged his shoulders

"I sold my soul to a Crossroads demon and Sammy was tainted by demon blood from the get go"

Zac started walking up and down cursing in various languages. Some, Sam knew and others they could only guess at.

."I have been stalking Amanojaku since i was 21, going all over the world, fighting in wars in countries you could barely pronounce let alone fight for and now you two are telling me that of all the recommendations i got and of all the hunters i picked. All you had to do was not take part in magickal rituals and say no to demoniac deals and you two boneheads cant even do that!"

Sam leaned over and whispered to Dean

"I feel like Bobby is lecturing us."

Dean nodded while keeping his eyes on Zac.

Dean stopped him in mid curse

"Why you need us anyway?"

Zac stopped and took a breath

"The demon I've been hunting has been flushed out and now i want to end its miserable little sorry existence"

Sam held up a hand

"Waitaminute! What about this girl, Jill who wants us dead?, Why'd you start hunting? We been hearing stories about you from way back when , how'd you manage that? What about..."

Zac smiled and Sam felt a chill crawling up his spine, he stopped mid-sentence

The glass on the window that Dean entered through exploded inwards and a sultry woman entered and stood there. Dean was knocked into Zac who was catapulted into Sam. All three collapsed into a heap

Average height, long black hair, slim build. She wore a black dress that covered from her shoulders, down to her upper thighs, whilst leaving her arms and legs mostly bare. She wore flat dress shoes and looked as if she was going clubbing at a swanky hot spot. A long bushy fox tail swishing back and forth behind her and the cat eyes dispelled the illusion of normalcy. The woman looked at Zac and smiled, she had longer than average canines and she looked like the cat that had eaten the canary

"Well well...Jonas Starrk. As i live and breath. Long time no see. When was it last?"

Zac pushed Dean off him and started to rise

"Pennsylvania, 1953", he sighed

The demon smiled.

"That's right, how many did we kill that day?"

Zac stood up

"16, 5 men, 8 women and 3 children, 2 boys and 1 girl"

Dean and Sam looked on in horror, frozen by the callousness of it all

The demons face warped and started to change into a sharply defined face which peaked at a point just at the chin. Her nose flattened against her face and assumed a more feline shape. Her long straight dark hair which before hung lifeless at her shoulders suddenly straightened, as if gelled in place and straightened into spikes almost. Blood started to drip onto the floor, the boys looked up to see her fingers stretching and the skin sloughing off as they transformed into what looked like hooked claws emanating from her hands. All the while blood dripped from her fingers as the skin fell to the floor and as what was left behind stretched into what looked like animal claws. He legs started to crack and warp and bend as the bones started to twist to more resemble tiges than humans

Dean looked at Sam as Zac stood in front of them shielding them from it or it from them

"I think someone better call Animal Control.

_To be continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

Zac looked around the room and contemplated his life. In all his centuries of life he never thought that he would end it in a bargain basement hotel room with two guys young enough to be his great great grandsons...and then some.

Dean and Sam got to their feet and took up positions to flank the bizarre animal demon they faced. Dean looked to Sam and Zac

"Plans?"

Zac didn't look round "You boys scarper. I'll handle this"

Dean looked at him

"Oh no Granpa, we got some words to have after all this goes down!"

"Boys, meet Deumos, Deumos meet Dean and Sam Winchester."

Deumos smiled, her teeth had gotten longer, sharper and almost looked more numerous than they did a few minutes ago

"Y'see boys Deumos here, cant manifest on this plane, it ain't her natural environment, so she has to take hosts. She doesn't like to soil herself on us lowly mortals"

Dean and Sam ran past Zac towards Deumos. Zac reached out with both hands and tried to grab the boys as they rushed the demon. Deumos screamed and Dean, Sam and Zac felt a physical force hit them as they got blown through the window, bounced down the roof below the window and landed unceremoniously in the dust of the street.

Zac stood up, wobbly

"Damn the both of you"

Dean and Sam looked round. The horizon had taken on a shade of grey, the sun was at midday and battered the city with rays of white, there was no asphalt, no cars and all the people looked like grey blobs as they floated round the town. A wind blew eerily through the town, sand was whisked round the street. Dean and Sam both had memories of the Wild West. Sunrise, Wyoming was just too fresh in their minds

Dean scratched his head "What the hell happened?"

Zac kicked some dust. "I inscribed a sigil on the window frame. Anything leaving my room gets sent to a nether world. I had hoped to use it on Deumos"

Sam looked at Zac "But you can get us back, right?"

"Yeh but its awkward"

Sam walked up to him "Awkward, how?"

"It requires demon blood to leave here. This realm is a world of spirits, everyone you see here as grey blobs is a living spirit that reflects their real world counterpart, one foot in the grave, so to speak. The recently departed also inhabit this place, they have more definition, the more defined a spirit is, the closer to death they are. This place can get very emotional and here emotions can cause damage. People who have just come here are very upset and confused. They are stronger here than they would normally be and here, they can kill you. We ain't talking throwing things round or throwing people round, we are talking kicking the living crap out of you. Demon hosts also live here for as long as they are possessed"

Dean muttered "Never heard o' this place before"

Zac stormed up to him "That's cos its one step removed from death. People stay here until they acclimatise to death then they move on. Its enough like the world they left behind not to confuse them too much and once they calm down, they move on. If they cant move on, then their emotions drag them back to the place they have strong emotions for and the become 'locked' in that place"

Sam looked around. "Where Deumos?"

Zac shrugged "I dunno. The ward should have dragged her through too."

A noise caused all three to turn around and face the upper end of the street. A lion stood at the top of the street. A mane of crimson fire framed its face and a snake formed its tail. Drops of steam rose up from the ground where the snake was hissing as acid dripped from its mouth. The lion's muscles were sleek and its maw looked like one step removed from a sabre tooth tiger. Huge fangs emanated past its jaw line. Its eyes were pure black

Dean sighed "You gotta be shitting me!"

Zac smiled grimly "Looks like Amanojaku have different rules"

A voice caught them off guard coming from an old house

"Quickly! Over here!"

A female arm was waving at them from a doorway, an old western style pub. Without missing a beat, all three dashed over and dove though the door. The door closed and a seal flashed into view as the door frame disappeared as it fused with the wall. Dean , Sam and Zac turn around to see who has saved them

Zac's confusion is evident as Dean and Sam look surprised to see Anna Milton standing there. Her vibrant red hair and pale alabaster skin making her as beautiful as they remembered.

Dean stalked forward and grabbed Anna's shirtfront.

"You tried to kill my brother you sanctimonious piece of..."

Zac put his hand over Deans arm.

"Dean, she's dead. Don't you think she's suffered enough"

Dean took his hand away and held up both arms in a show of submission

Sam looked at her "Why are you here?"

Anna shrugged "I dunno, i just woke up here one day and have been here ever since"

"You should have moved on long ago, being here too long can be dangerous, Subconscious feelings, desires and emotions can make things very...complicated", Zac was examining the door

Anna walked over

"I put a warding seal on it, no creature of evil can enter. We have some time at least, the seal doesn't last long though. I think it has to do with where we are"

Dean and Sam found some old bar stools and sat down as Anna went behind the bar to get them some drinks.

Dean looked at Zac

"Well?"

Zac looked confused "Well what?"

"We have lots of questions and you have all the answers. How did you get started in this business?"

Zac sat in a booth chair in one corner of the expansive pub, he ran his hand through his hair, as if doing so would make him remember

"Jeez. You guys ain't one for asking subtle question are ya? OK, it was 1776. My name back then was Jonas Starrk and Jonas for all his flaws was, at heart, a good man. I was living with my family,my wife, Mary and my daughter Kay in a little plot of land, just west of Salem. Things were quiet, in hindsight, maybe too quiet, who knows? I was content. That year there was bad weather and my crops died, couldn't make payments and the creditors started chapping my door. In the basement one night, while i was working out monies, i found a book, it was the Necronomicon"

San said "The book of the dead written by Abdul Alhazred?"

Zac nodded

"I dunno how it got there or why it ended up in a small farm in Salem but i read it. It contains the names of everything you can imagine and some things you cant. It had spells and sigil and runes and for a price anything you needed done, it could do."

Dean shouted "You made a deal!"

Zac nodded and walked over to the bar for a drink. Anna gave him a shot of whisky without being asked. Zac took it and downed it in one gulp.

He played with the shot glass, he rolled it round in his hand and then placed it face down on the bar top.

"Yes, i did but not in the way you think, not in the way i wanted either, but still... These deals are made and interpreted by creatures who are no longer human, so after reading all this book, you'd think i would know better", Zac gave a small laugh

Sam walked up next to him

"Jonas? What happened?"

Zac slapped him on the back "Kid, do you know how many centuries it has been since anyone human has called me Jonas"

Sam gestured and Anna gave him a shot of whisky.

"One night a fierce storm was blowing, Mary was upstairs arguing with some guys at the door who had come to foreclose on the farm. Kay was in her bed, crying herself to sleep, i could hear it, i could hear it all. Through all these years I can still remember all this, crazy huh? I was flipping through the pages of the book, i was just looking and i was thinking and i was drinking and i didn't do anything. I will swear on anything that i didn't do anything, honest. I heard a scream from upstairs and gun shots. I dropped everything and ran up..."

Zac's hand was trembling. He grabbed the empty shot glass to stop it shaking.

"They were dead, they were all dead. The men at the door, Mary, Kay, all of them, dead. In the middle of it all was Deumos. She was a 16 yr old girl at that time. Strawberry blonde, Pigtails, dungarees, freckles standing there,not doing anything, just standing there with a wide eyed expression of innocence on her face, blood dripping from her hands. I screamed at her, wanting to know what had happened. She smiled and next thing i knew i felt a pinprick of pain in my stomach. It wasn't much. It was akin to a paper cut. You feel something and then you go about your business. I looked down and her hand had vanished, a wrist with claws had appeared where her hand had been. Her hand was in my stomach and i could feel her claws tickling my back. I felt like i was watching all this from outside. Disjointed, emotionless and looking back i am not even sure i cared. All i could think was 'poor bastard'"

Zac started walking around and gesturing wildly with his hands as he walked

"I woke up and i was whole and healthy and had the book open and resting on my stomach. I was downstairs and everything was quiet upstairs. I felt itchy, but it came from inside. Something I should have known but couldn't quite place it. I heard cock crow and went upstairs to wake Mary and Kay. The blood, there was so much blood. I held Mary's body in my arms and i forget how long i lay there. I was pulled off of her by some men, deputies, sheriffs, farmhands, i don't really remember who. The blood was all gone, i didnt understand how at the time. Looking back i wish i had died with them"

_To be continued..._


	4. Chapter 4

_1776, Salem: Jonas Starrk awoke in a cold sweat. He sneezed as the drifting smoke tickled his nostrils. He heard two voices, one old and one female_

"_...el, are you sure?", from the female_

"_Sssh, he's awake", older voice_

_Jonas felt hands upon him as they pulled him up to a sitting position._

"_You ok?"_

_Jonas looked down. His shirt was ripped open and his chest was scrawled with blood, it was rapidly disappearing as he looked upon it. Jonas scratched his head_

"_Yeh, what happened?"_

_The old man and the female exchange glances._

"_You set your place on fire and got caught in the explosion when it blew. You not remember?"_

_Jonas looked off into the distance as he tried. The house burning down as he watched, smoke started to drift lazily westerly with the wind_

"_Oh god" he whispered, "MARY!", he darted to his feet but before he could get anywhere close, the old man was, inexplicably, in front of him_

"_She's gone son. Let it go"_

_Jonas started trying to force his way past the old man and then he started battering the old mans chest, the blows became harder for a few instants then they degraded into sobs and eventually Jonas fell to his knees_

"_I've lost her...what do i do now?"_

_The old man put his hand on Jonas' shoulder_

"_Why. You live, son, you go about your life and live and if the good lord needs you then I am sure he will call."_

_Jonas nodded dumbly and started to walk off into the distance_

Dean stared at Zac

"You blew up your farm! Why?"

Dean half raised himself from his chair, he seemed angry that someone would destroy his home. Sam who sat next to him looked up, he looked calm as he thought things through. Anna who was playing bartender behind the saloon bar took a sip from a shot of something,her face impassive. The plan brown wooden walls of the soon contrasted sharply with the greyness of the sand outside and the dark horizon tinged with strands of white

Zac shrugged, "I dunno, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Everything from that time is kinda vague."

Sam swirled his drink round in his glass as they all felt a battering, as the walls shook, floor vibrated and pieces of the ceiling started to fall, as Deumos tried to force its way inside.

Dean formed a half smile, "Crap weather huh?"

Zac laughed, "From that time on, i haven't aged. I did some research and found out about something called the Nero Sigil."

Dean and Sam both shook their heads whilst Anna was strangely reticent.

Sam looked at Zac "What is it?"

Zac jerked his chin at Anna

"Ask her"

Dean looked at her with raised eyebrows "Well?"

Anna sighed "Everyone has heard about Nero from history. There is a version only Angels know...and maybe some demons."

Dean looked at her, "Well, c'mon...spill"

Anna concentrated as if trying to think where to start

"Rumour has it that sometime later in life Nero was possessed and started torturing and killing Christians. One of the early Christian leaders that was exiled instead of killed was a man called John. He was exiled to a small island called Patmos. From there he supposedly had a vision which was later transcribed in the Book of Revelations. The last book of the Bible, dealing with the Apocalypse. People have wondered for centuries whether John's writing have dealt with the literal 'Beast' and the 'Whore of Babylon' or whether they were all metaphors for Rome and all its outposts and citizens". Anna fell quiet

Dean gestured with his hand

"Sigil?"

Anna took a drink and resumed.

"The demon that was Nero was supposedly sent to him to harness the accumulated hatred and vanity of mankind. Nero was one of the great hedonists after all. Nero was killed by his request by his secretary as he couldn't do it himself. No one knows for sure what happened to the secretary after all this. Anyhow all that energy and power that apparently resided within that demon was fed into a mystical rune called Nero's Sigil. As long as it is 'fed' it will stay active. It has no 'expiry date'. Its sole purpose is to gather and harness whatever is fed to it. In ancient times it was hedonism that fed it, but...rumours circulate that it was altered by someone, very high power and we aren't sure who changed it or for what purpose. All we are told is that the bearer of the Sigil is his own worst enemy. He never brings life, only death. He has no friends or family. Only enemies and nemesis."

Everyone was silent as they thought about Zac

"C'mon everyone cheer up. After all whats the worst that could happen?" zac queried

Deumos burst into the room through the wall, the rune holding it at bay flared to life then faded.

"Damnit!" Zac swore

"You kids back off, Deumos is mine"

Sam rolled to his feet "No, we can do this together!"

Zac looked at Dean. "Dean, you know i have to do this alone. Its my curse, i have to kill her. Take care of everyone while i do"

Dean nodded "OK Granpa, but how do we get out of here?"

"Anna!"

She nodded as Zac charged the lion. Deumos reared back on its hind legs and swiped a claw at Zac. Zac pulled back as the claws left three horizontal marks in his chest. Zac growled and swiped at the monster with his dagger. The knife whistled past Deumos' face.

Anna grabbed both boys by their collars

"C'mon!"

They dashed out of the saloon as the roof started to creak.

Sam started to struggle, "No, we cant leave him fighting that monster alone!"

Dean started to drag Sam away "Leave him to it, Sammy. He has to do it alone"

"But Dean..."

Anna hit Sam from behind. Sam dropped into Deans arms.

Dean looked at her "What was that for?"

Anna looked sat Dean, fear was evident in her eyes "Run now, talk later"

Half carrying, half dragging Sam, they rushed away from the saloon as they heard a big implosion as the building collapsed in upon itself. Dean felt a twang of empathy for the man that had lived for so long to die like this. But as Bobby used to say 'You don't retire from being a hunter, there are no good endings'

They reached an empty area away from town. Anna stopped

"Dean, let him down here"

Dean eased Sam to the ground as he started to groan as consciousness started to return. Anna grabbed a knife from inside her clothes a slit Sam's palm

He shot awake "Ow!"

Dean grabbed her wrist "What the hell was that for?"

Anna looked at him with eyes that spat venom

"We need demon blood for the portal and Sam is the closest we got"

Dean tightened and said slowly

"My...brother...is..no...demon!"

Anna looked deep into Dean's eyes

"Your brother is also not entirely human. Let...go...of...my...hand, your hurting me"

Dean released his grip and Anna drew a pattern on the sand, the pattern wasn't made of sand but seemed somehow to exist above the sand. After she was finished she took her fist covered in Sam's blood and punched the centre of the circle. A bright flash of red light blinded them all and when Deans vision cleared he was sitting in the middle of the road, with a horn blaring at him. He turned his head to see the grill plate of an SUV looking at him. He held his hand up and half dragged, half carried Sam off the road outside the hotel that they had met Zac in.

"What a way to build a railroad!", Dean said

End

_Epilogue 1: "Yeh Bobby we screwed the pooch on this one too. Zac's dead, i think we lost Anna and i don't know what's gonna happen next"_

_Bobby was silent down the other end of the line_

"_Jeez kid, give yourself some credit. Going up against a different 'nationality' of demon and coming out with your skin attached is a good thing. Zac had a good innings and Anna was dead already. Its sad to say but we didn't lose anything. Don't worry about it"_

_Dean hung up_

"_So why do i feel so like crap?"_

_But no one answered him_

_Epilogue 2: Jill, or the demon inside Jill, looked into the bowl, the blood it contained sang to her such a sweet song. The man sat on the bed, his pants draped around his ankles, the red line round his throat had stopped bleeding several minutes ago, but Jill watched him to see what possibly anyone saw in these frail creatures. He had tried to staunch the flow, kicked, tried to scream, convulsed and finally died. She thought it would have taken longer. Such frail creatures, she thought_

"_I did it master, i sent one hunter after the Winchesters, no doubt they will kill each other. Are you pleased?"_

_She never felt the impact as the bowie knife entered her heart through her back, lightning played over the wound as the light left her eyes, she dropped without a sound. The blood rose from the body and gravitated towards the assailant. His scars healed as the blood flowed and merged with him, healing him and restoring his life force_

_Zac looked over the body_

"_Pleased? Darlin' I'm ecstatic!"_

_He quietly left the room_

_Epilogue 3: 1776 Salem_

_The female looked at the old man._

"_Was that wise? The Nero Sigil is not to be used lightly and never without cost to he who bears it"_

_The old man's eyes followed Jonas' wandering trail_

"_As i am sure Nero found out to his folly. Although he was a man and the man, John of Patmos hated most of all, his soul was most definitely not of this Earth. All i have done is gave it a new home"_

_The female looked at him_

"_Raphael, is this what our father wants?", the question was asked pleadingly as if she could take all the hurt back_

_The old man looked at the young girl_

"_Remember your place Castiel!", he spat_

_The female averted her eyes and nodded meekly_

"_Yes brother"_

_End._


End file.
